Wilder Backs Robb

Rivals Bury The Hatchet For Dramatic Endorsement

ALEXANDRIA — Democratic Sen. Charles Robb won a long-sought campaign endorsement Friday from his arch rival, former Gov. Doug Wilder, in a lavish show of party unity that featured President Clinton.

In an eleventh-hour reconciliation that Clinton likened to a breakthrough in Mideast peace talks, Wilder put aside years of bitter jealousies and political infighting to embrace Robb and rejoin the Democratic Party he left last spring.

"I'm glad to be back," he told 800 party activists at a Democratic fund-raiser, whom he had angered in June by launching an independent bid for Robb's U.S. Senate seat.

"I think we should all be involved in a monumental effort to elect Chuck Robb as the next United States senator," Wilder said to a standing ovation. "I have no reservation. There will be no equivocation. I don't endorse lightly. I will be involved in every conceivable manner."

The endorsement marked a 180-degree turnaround for Wilder, who has called Robb "unfit for public office." When he launched his ill-fated Senate campaign in June, Wilder described his foe as an ineffective senator who has helped make Virginia the nation's laughingstock.

Asked to explain his apparent change of heart, Wilder said, "Suffice it to say, that was then. This is now."

Wilder's endorsement of Robb is considered important because, as the nation's first elected black governor, Wilder could help rally black voters who otherwise may stay home on Election Day. Blacks make up about 18 percent of the state's population. A recent Mason-Dixon poll showed Robb had 62 percent of the black vote, but another 20 percent remained undecided.

In a scene that had party activists literally jumping for joy, Wilder and Robb shook hands on stage beneath a large portrait of Democratic icons Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr.

Clinton, watching the reconciliation unfold before him, said it reminded him of the peace talks he brokered between PLO chairman Yassir Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzak Rabin.

Turning to Wilder, Clinton said, "It put me in mind of Arafat and Rabin while you and Chuck were shaking hands. Peace is breaking out all over."

News of the pending endorsement had generated a swirl of rumors that Wilder may be offered a job in the Clinton administration in exchange for his backing of Robb. Wilder met with Clinton in the White House on Tuesday.

Both Robb and Wilder denied job offers were discussed.

"I think it's very unfair to this governor to keep suggesting there had to be something else in it for him," Robb said. "To suggest there's a quid pro quo is just wrong."

Some have hinted Wilder sought assurances that Robb would help him pay off his campaign debt. Wilder reported more than $125,000 in debts, including a $54,000 personal loan, in his latest finance report.

Robb said there was no guarantee made on financial assistance, but added, "There's a widespread willingness to help after this campaign is over."

Wilder, who has a legendary flair for the dramatic, chose to make his endorsement at a forum guaranteed to give him prominent exposure: an appearance side by side with the president.

Wilder was treated to a hero's welcome at Alexandria's Radisson Hotel, where white and black party activists alike applauded what they described as a "noble" attempt to bury the past and help block the election of Republican Oliver North.

While he made no apologies for his independent campaign that had fractured the Democratic base, Wilder suggested he had little choice but to endorse Robb, given North as the alternative.

"I think anyone can see the clear difference between the two candidates as it relates to the things that matter most in the lives of people," Wilder said.

For his part, Clinton delivered a feisty defense of Robb's record in the Senate, which he said was marked by deficit reduction, job creation, better education for poor children, anti-crime measures and strong defense.

Turning to his longtime friend, Clinton said of Robb, "He was a terrific lieutenant governor and a wonderful governor of this state. But this is his finest hour. Anybody can run and do well in the good times. But when a tidal wave comes along, full of venom, anger and misrepresentation, fueled by unlimited money, to risk it all for the people you really love ... that is his finest hour."

Such strong backing from Clinton could prove dangerous in a conservative state where most voters frown on Clinton's performance in the White House. But Clinton sought to defend his record as a fight for ordinary Americans.